Having seen Bones Ate Arfa supporting Sweet Unrest I was keen to see them headlining their own show. Which I accomplished by trotting down to the Old Blue Last, below. Now this is a nice East End pub on a good site that has somehow survived the regeneration of the area around it. Relatively convenient for me as near Old Street station. And the venue is pleasant enough, being above the pub and with its own bar.
The catch? There is always a catch. And it is such an unnecessary one. The lighting. Which is awful. Mostly the stage is bathed in deep red like some infra red nocturnal wildlife filming, or worse flashing between dark red and total darkness. And I say this at the outset to explain why the photos are so poor especially given I was standing at the front.
So, usual format, two supports and then the headliners. The openers (Hadsandy I think they were called) were clearly friends of the band and also from Brighton. The best I can say for them is that they seemed a friendly bunch. But rather unattractive noise rock and rather unappealing generally, so not too cut up that these two were the only half decent photos I got of them. More might well have been less!
The second support, Nobody's Dad, were a more orthodox indie four piece, slightly unusual in being an even gender split. Lead singer and boy on guitar had vividly dyed hair, blue and red respectively, only this was rarely evident in the red lighting which strangely turned the guy blond and girl brunette. (By the way, if you think I exaggerate the "redness" of the evening from the photos, I was quickly snapping away in any very brief moments of slight brightness, sadly usually the gaps between songs.)
Anyway, I enjoyed Nobody's Dad a lot more than the openers. At least I wasn't waiting for them to finish! And the vocalists could sing.
So onto the act that I had actually come to see, Bones Ate Arfa. They had clearly done the best they could on a limited budget to dress their set - ie acquired an inflatable skeleton which hung disconsolately from the mic stand.
But really the joy of this band is the three lads being themselves (or seeming to be themselves! How would I know?). They dress in best slacker style (which to my mind is no effort at all on their part, baggy t-shirts and baggier shorts, so long that they are almost long trousers.) And that casualness is much of the appeal. Its cool. No casualness with the music though - they attack their instruments with gusto. A sort of cross between grunge and the Doors. Their one concession to a stage uniform was black berets which the lead singer said they had been given before the gig. Totally didn't suit them as the thrashing around of their long hair matched the thrashing of their instruments superbly. The berets were soon ditched
Actually the other concession to "stage costume" was Ate on drums changing into his favourite number 8 American football shirt. Ate = 8, get it?
As you can see, I am not exaggerating when I said I was at the front. Although nowhere near full it was by no means an awkwardly sparse crowd. There were enough people for it to feel comfortable.
Ate, in the gloom at the back, eventually discarded his top. I suspect his frenetic drumming was not compatible with deep heat lighting!
All in all a very enjoyable set from the boys. I hope they go far. Difficult to promote oneself at this level, but their best feature is their enthusiasm and just the natural feel of their sets. They feel like a nice bunch of young lads just enjoying themselves on stage, which is their beauty. Definitely not just going through the motions. They threw themselves into the show.
But a little more banter with the audience would help - having spoken to them before the gig got going (lead singer was also doorman at the start - this is a very DIY level!) they are very personable so should convey that more. But in particular they could start by advertising their next gig! I had to approach the lead singer at the end to ask when they would next play in London and he said they would be supporting Really Big Really Clever (who, however clever they may be, are certainly not "big"!) at the Sebright Arms next month. Which I couldn't have discovered otherwise since on the Sebright Arms website (which I do occasionally check for interesting gigs) they aren't listed. It just so happens that I intend to go there tomorrow for a free gig, including on the bill another support I recently liked, Cherry i, so will test the place out. And almost certainly see Bones Ate Arfa there two weeks on Sunday, despite their attempt to go incognito. I am a determined gig goer, not easily deterred!😂
A little more investigation (the internet is a wonderful thing) showed that they are also doing a gig in Brighton in December at a venue very close to the station, so even with an 11pm finish I should still be able to get a train back to London. Yeah, I will probably do that one too. Told you I liked them!
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